Monaco Responds To EU Blacklisting

Monaco's Government has set out its objections to its inclusion on the European Union's recently issued tax blacklist, stating that it does not reflect the Principality's policies.

In a June 22 statement, the Government said that the list is flawed. It noted that certain territories have been included on the EU's list if they feature on ten or more EU member state blacklists. It noted the difficulty of being removed from these lists, as the member states have different criteria for a territory's removal; some are based on effective tax rates and others are dependent on the signing of an agreement with tax information exchange provisions.

Monaco highlighted that in many instances its tax rates are equal or exceed those of some EU member states, taking the example of France in its statement.

In addition, the Government noted that, since 2009, Monaco has signed 32 exchange of
information agreements based on the OECD standard, and was recognized as "largely compliant" with international standards at the Sixth Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes held in Jakarta in November 2013.

The Government went on to note ongoing efforts to pursue removal from EU member state blacklist, noting ongoing negotiations for exchange of information agreements, in particular with Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

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